New York (U.S.)

Last modified: 2006-08-26 by rick wyatt
Keywords: new york | united states |
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by Mario Fabretto, 24 February 1998

• Legal Description
• Coat of Arms
• Governor's flag
• Colonial flag
• State Military Crest

Municipal flags

In New York, as in a number of US states, the standard state division of "county" is further subdivided (completely, unless cities or villages are created from them) into "towns." To keep these from being confused with the usual meaning of "town" (i.e., a large village), these are sometimes called "townships." The list below contains cities and towns/townships and villages.

County flags

See also:

• New York Colonial/Rev. War Flags
• Port Authority of NY & NJ
• New York Geneological & Biographical Society
• New York Yacht Clubs flags
• National Guard of the State of New York
• Shinnecock Indian Nation of New York
• NY State Facts
• Historical Info Web Pages about New Netherlands
• United States of America
• States of the United States

One of the original 13 colonies, New York is represented by a star and a stripe on the 13 star U.S. flags.

New York State Consolidated Laws
Chapter 57, Article 6
Section 70. Description of the arms of the state and the state flag. The device of arms of this state, as adopted March sixteenth, seventeen hundred and seventy-eight, is hereby declared to be correctly described as follows:

Charge. Azure, in a landscape, the sun in fess, rising in splendor or, behind a range of three mountains, the middle one the highest; in base a ship and sloop under sail, passing and about to meet on a river, bordered below by a grassy shore fringed with shrubs, all proper.

Crest. On a wreath azure and or, an American eagle proper, rising to the dexter from a two-thirds of a globe terrestrial, showing the north Atlantic ocean with outlines of its shores.

Supporters. On a quasi compartment formed by the extension of the scroll. Dexter. The figure of Liberty proper, her hair disheveled and decorated with pearls, vested azure, sandaled gules, about the waist a cincture or, fringed gules, a mantle of the last depending from the shoulders behind to the feet, in the dexter hand a staff ensigned with a Phrygian cap or, the sinister arm embowed, the hand supporting the shield at the dexter chief point, a royal crown by her sinister foot dejected. Sinister. The figure of Justice proper, her hair disheveled and decorated with pearls, vested or, about the waist a cincture azure, fringed gules, sandaled and mantled as Liberty, bound about the eyes with a fillet proper, in the dexter hand a straight sword hilted or, erect, resting on the sinister chief point of the shield, the sinister arm embowed, holding before her her scales proper.

Motto. On a scroll below the shield argent, in sable, Excelsior.

State flag. The state flag is hereby declared to be blue, charged with the arms of the state in the colors as described in the blazon of this section.

In 1882, the legislature adopted the arms of the state that had first been designated in 1778. The flag was adopted in 1901 and modified in 1909.
Blas Delgado Ortiz, 23 April 2002

While every depiction of the New York State flag which I have seen omits the face on the sun, *every* actual modern flag I have seen does have the face (and I have seen quite a few- and I have made a point of checking to be sure the face was there). Usually the face is done in red thread, but occasionally it is a dark blue or black (not sure which, or if both). A few weeks ago I saw one which I at first thought was an exception to my previous experience about the face always being present. At first looking at one flying from a pole set several stories above the ground I did not see the face. However, after I had walked past and turned back to look at it one more time, with the real sun back-lighting the flag, and shining through the fabric, the face did appear as a shadow, since its threads were more tightly woven than the surrounding fabric. Upon closer examination I saw that, for whatever reason, the face had been embroidered in yellow thread stitched on the yellow sun.
Ned Smith, 14 March 2004

Coat of arms

by Joe McMillan

The New York coat of arms is blazoned in New York State Consolidated Laws, Chapter 57, Article 6, § 70 as "Azure, in a landscape, the sun in fess, rising in splendor or, behind a range of three mountains, the middle one the highest; in base a ship and sloop under sail, passing and about to meet on a river, bordered below by a grassy shore fringed with shrubs, all proper."

The law defines the crest as "On a wreath azure and or, an American eagle proper, rising to the dexter from a two-thirds of a globe terrestrial, showing the North Atlantic Ocean with outlines of its shores." The supporters are "the figure of Liberty proper, her hair disheveled and decorated with pearls, vested azure, sandaled gules, about the waist a cincture or, fringed gules, a mantle of the last depending from the shoulders behind to the feet, in the dexter hand a staff ensigned with a Phrygian cap or, the sinister arm embowed, the hand supporting the shield at the dexter chief point, a royal crown by her sinister foot dejected" and "the figure of Justice proper, her hair disheveled and decorated with pearls, vested or, about the waist a cincture azure, fringed gules, sandaled and mantled as Liberty, bound about the eyes with a fillet proper, in the dexter hand a straight sword hilted or, erect, resting on the sinister chief point of the shield, the sinister arm embowed, holding before her her scales proper." The motto, prescribed as being in black letters on a white scroll, is "Excelsior."

This blazon was developed by a commission appointed in 1880 to develop a standard presentation of the arms of the state, which had originally been developed in 1777 and officially adopted by law on 16 March 1778 as "A rising sun over three mountains; motto underneath 'Excelsior.'" This blazon obviously does not mention the vessels on the river, or even the river itself. Early depictions, up to the time of the Civil War, do consistently show the river but not the ships or the near river bank in the base of the shield. The one exception, a depiction used on military commissions during the Revolutionary period, was the model used in 1880, which was subsequently approved by an 1882 act of the state legislature as the arms' "permanent design and legal form." This blazon was amended slightly in 1896 to its present wording.

The landscape on the shield is said to represent the sun rising behind Mount Beacon over the Hudson River. The sun is variously supposed to derive from the medieval sun badge of the House of York (for the Duke of York after whom the state is named) or from the arms of Jonas Bronck, a major landowner. (The rising sun appears on the flag of the New York City Borough of the Bronx, which occupies the land once owned by Bronck and is named after him.) The ship and sloop are indicative of trade--the sloop shown is of a design typical of the up-river trade in the days of sail. The other symbols mostly speak for themselves. The motto, "Excelsior," means "ever upward."

The coat of arms was used on the blue regimental flag of the 3rd New York Regiment in late 1777 or early 1778, even before it was legally adopted by the legislature. It was also presumably the principal feature of the regimental colors ordered by law to be provided to units of the state militia in 1786. The state militia regulations of 1858 provide for a white flag with the coat of arms, 10 x 12 feet, as the state flag and a blue flag with the coat of arms and unit designation as the regimental color of infantry and the standard of cavalry regiments. During the Civil War period, the New York coat of arms was impaled with the U.S. coat of arms on unit colors as well as on uniform buttons andother accoutrements of New York troops. The New York State Military Museum has an on-line exhibit of Civil War-era military flags at http://www.dmna.state.ny.us/historic/btlflags/electronindex.htm; that of the 14th Regiment, NY State Militia, has a particularly interesting
rendition of the coat of arms.

Joe McMillan, 14 March 2004

New York state flag, 1896-1901 (reconstruction)

by Joe McMillan

On April 8, 1896, the New York state legislature adopted a law making the coat of arms on a buff field the official state flag (reconstructed image attached). The buff field was chosen because Major Asa Gardiner, the main proponent of the flag, argued that it should be of the facing color of uniform worn by troops. George Washington had ordered that troops from New York and New Jersey serving in the Continental Army wear buff facings.  However, the buff flag was unpopular, since the actual and more familiar custom at the time was for military flags to be blue with the coat of arms, as they had been for New York troops during and before the Civil War. Thus, the legislature changed the field from buff to blue by a law enacted on April 2, 1901.

The coat of arms as depicted on the flag has several minor differences from that on the state seal, or as it is shown in paintings for non-flag use. These are mainly in the treatment of the sun (squared off rays, no face on the disk) and in the simplification of the color palette for flag manufacture. The attached image is based on a scan of a technical drawing of the flag version of the coat of arms, found in the files of the U.S. Army's Institute of Heraldry, with the color scheme based on a color print of the flag provided to the Institute by the state government.

Sources: [kng46] National Geographic article on seals, January 1946; Eugene Zieber, Heraldry in America (1896); Typescript "History of the Flag and Arms and the Great Seal of the State of New York" in The Institute of Heraldry, U.S. Army, Records Department, File 840-10 Heraldic Item Flag: New York; Albert B. Corey, "The History of the New York State Flag" (no date; also in the TIOH file); Smith, Flag Book of the United States; official New York state websites

Joe McMillan, 14 March 2004

by Joe McMillan, 25 February 2000

Here are the Governor's flags, from State Military Regulation 16, section 2, 8 April 1966:

a. The flag of the Governor is of blue wool bunting, 10.2 feet hoist by 16 feet fly. In each of the four corners is a white five-pointed star with one point upwards, and in the center of the flag is the coat of arms of the State.

b. The color of the Governor is of blue silk, 4 feet 4 inches hoist by 5 feet 6 inches fly, of the same design as that of the flag of the Governor and trimmed on three edges with a knotted fringe of blue and gold bullion 2.5 inches wide. The device and stars are embroidered. The staff is of wood, ebony finish, single screw jointed, 10 feet 3 inches in length, including gold-plated head and ferrule. The head is a spear 7.75 inches in height. Attached just below the head of the staff is a cord 8 feet 6 inches in length, with a tassel at each end. Cord and tassel are of blue and gold silk strands.

c. The boat flag of the Governor is of blue wool bunting, 3 feet hoist by 4 feet fly, of the same design as that of the flag of the Governor.

d. The automobile flag of the Governor is of blue silk or other suitable material, 1 foot 6 inches hoist by 2 feet 2 inches fly, of the same design as that of the flag of the Governor, and is trimmed on three edges with a knotted fringe of blue and gold silk strands 1.5 inches wide.

In use since circa 1900 [smi75a]; current regulation 1966.
Joe McMillan, 25 February 2000

Arms on blue, just like state flag today. [ric82]
Nick Artimovich, 2 May 1996

by Joe McMillan, 21 April 2000

The state military crest, which is the crest used in the coats of arms of units of the National Guard, as granted by the precursor organizations of what is now the Army Institute of Heraldry. The official Institute of Heraldry blazon is "The full-rigged ship Half Moon all proper. [The Half Moon was the flagship of Henry Hudson, first European explorer of New York.]"
Joe McMillan, 21 April 2000